The First Line Of Care For Schools

At CHRISTUS School Clinics, care can often go beyond a band-aid. For some of our School Clinic medical assistants, their care made a vital impact on the teachers and students of the schools they serve.

The clinic at St. Mary of the Purification Catholic School serves the needs of Pre-K students to those in the eighth grade in the Third Ward. Recently a 3-year-old began having an allergic reaction and was brought to the clinic. Medical Assistant Lorena Arrieta noticed a mosquito bite on the student’s eyelid and attributed it to that. After contacting the mother, the student received allergy medication and went back to class. Over the following two days, the student again had reactions. Arrieta spoke with the mother to see if she was eating something new or if the mother was using a new detergent. The incident always happened after nap time. Upon working through the situation with the mother, it was concluded that it was a new melatonin spray that was being used in the student’s sleeping bag. Thanks to Arrieta’s intervention, the reactions stopped.

For Medical Assistant Ashley Estrada at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Texas City, a recent situation ended in a 911 call. A teacher at the school was having a racing heart, pain in her chest and down an arm, and her blood pressure was extremely high. As the teacher had both high blood pressure and diabetes, Estrada called 911. Testing showed that the teacher’s blood sugar was low. Without having a medical person at the school, the outcome could have been much worse.

For Medical Assistant Denisse Hardy at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School, care included monitoring a first grade student who had recently undergone heart surgery. The student needed to have his blood pressure measured once a week at school as part of his post-op regimen. Hardy has been monitoring his blood pressure since April 4, and the student is doing well so far.